Hellraiser (2022): Basic Horror
I’m regretting using “The Horror of High Expectations” in a previous post… I don’t want the Spooktacular to be a bunch of new film reviews, but, considering the work I put into prepping myself for this new film, I feel I need to include it. That was the whole plan: write about the original series and then write about the “remake” and how it does or doesn’t fit in. The only problem is that I went into this plan expecting to like the reboot. This was going to be the one that truly elevates the mythology and sets it off in an exciting new direction. Some people might feel that it was successful in that task. Some people would be wrong.
Remake is definitely the wrong word for describing the film as the story is almost completely different from the original. It’s more of a reboot, using the IP to tell a completely new story. I don’t know if the intention is that this is a “soft” reboot and therefore taking place in the same universe as the original film(s), but that does not seem to be the case. How can I tell? Well, the rules have changed — something that was even apparent in the marketing.
The trailer for the film includes snippets from a scene where an unsuspecting young man is goaded into solving a puzzle box by some shady figure. When he does, the cenobites come to claim him. This is a departure from the original series (or at least the films I’ve seen) where the cenobites are a little more discerning about intention. In Hellraiser II, a nearly-comatose young girl is manipulated by her evil doctor into solving the Lament Configuration. When the cenobites come a-calling, Pinhead immediately notes the deception and spares the girl. In Hellraiser (2022), the plot hinges almost entirely on using the puzzle box as a weapon that you can literally stab other people with to mark them as the next to be dragged off to hell. Does this departure immediately doom the reboot? No, I wouldn’t say that, but it’s just one example of how this version reduces an interesting concept from the original into something mundane.
The film’s protagonist, Riley (Odessa A’Zion), is a struggling addict who is tricked into stealing the puzzle box and accidentally dooms her brother to the cenobites. To get him back, she must unlock the mysteries of the puzzle and its many configurations until she earns an audience with the demon-god Leviathan itself.
While discussing the film in a dual interview with franchise creator Clive Barker, director David Bruckner emphasizes the importance of Riley’s addictions to the plot. I think that would have been a nice way to “elevate” the story, but I don’t believe it’s as central as he claims. Riley is in recovery and her experience with the box is, quite-literally, a step program. Get it?! But how does that addiction affect her decisionmaking throughout the film beyond creating tension with her brother? It doesn’t. Her journey is much the same as you’d expect from a non-addict. In the end, she’s tempted by the cenobites, but temptation is not the sole province of the addict.
In addition to the puzzle box becoming an actual weapon, the reboot takes a hard turn toward broader horror with its setting. The 2nd half of the film takes place in what is pretty much a haunted mansion. Riley and a few other supporting, but entirely forgettable, characters are harrassed from within by twisted and power-hungry billionaire Roland Voight (Goran Visnjic) while the cenobites creep closer and closer, picking people off like in a slasher movie. It’s not the worst way to spend a couple hours, but, to me, it hardly felt like a Hellraiser film at all.
Is is scary? Not really, no. It’s kind of gross at times. The new cenobite designs looked pretty good, but, a lot of the time, the film is so dimly lit, it’s hard to tell what you’re looking at. There’s nothing here nearly as shocking as what the viewer experiences in the original and don’t even think about comparing it to Part II.
So, I guess I’ll have to wait for the HBO Hellraiser series to see if that can bring the franchise into the present in a more satisfying way. Considering that involves David Gordon Green (new Halloween trilogy), I’m not holding my breath.
Streaming: newly-released directly to Hulu.
